"Guo Pei is China’s most renowned couturier. For over 20 years, she has been dressing celebrities, distinguished ladies, royalty and political elite who turn to her for show-stopping, magnificent creations when they want to look beautiful and stand out from the crowd.
A modern messenger of her cultural heritage, Guo Pei has breathed new life into embroidery and painting traditions that date back thousands of years. Showcasing the finest of traditional Chinese craftsmanship while incorporating contemporary innovation and Western style, Guo Pei is a passionate artisan who wants to evoke people’s emotions and inspire people through her art.
In the world of Guo Pei, fabric, shape and texture resonate with meaning. Inspired by fairy tales, legends and even military history, every creation tells a story and is a canvas for artistic expression, bringing beauty, romance and the designer’s imagination to life. They tell the stories which paintings and embroidery have conveyed throughout the centuries."
Guo Pei Website: www.guo-pei.fr
Guo Pei, Photographer Jean Marc Cresson, Paris Fashion Week 2020, World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine, www.guo-pei.fr
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine would like to welcome amazing photographer Jean Marc Cresson.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: Please tell us about yourself.
I am 51 years old this year, I have been a photographer since 1995. I was not destined to do this job. After University, it was my military service that brought me to the photography. My experience has allowed me to evolve in fascinating areas of this profession, and allowed me to meet extraordinary people. I'm photographer who works outside studio, my point of view, is that very tonic. I appreciate shooting in places that have a history, and Paris is amazing for that. These places are always a good guiding thread for the enhancement of my artistic line.
This is very true in the field of haute couture and fashion. However, I also like working in the studio, in a more subdued atmosphere, more user-friendly and conducive to exchanges.
My work focuses on fashion, haute couture and ready-to-wear, and jewelry. I also work in everything that is institutionnal, political sport and army.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: Tell us what type of photographer are you or what of jobs do you focus on ?
I am mainly focused on fashion, haute couture and ready-to-wear, and everything that attracts luxury but I am not locked in this field, it is necessary to open up to other photographic genres.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: What made you decide to dive into world of photography?
Aside from the fact that it was my military service that was the trigger, I objectively believe that my influences go back further in my childhood when my father took me to the Louvre Museum. We spent whole afternoons studying the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci and impressionist painters like Caravaggio. He wagered me to exercise my gaze on light, color and depth of field. Later he offered me my first camera and taught me to exercise my eye through a camera, I was 14 years old.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: Are you schooled or self-taught?
I didn’t go to photography school I'm self-taught. I have worked with professional photographers, I have benefited from their experience, which has been an excellent training for me. I have participated and validated training courses in post-production. I continue to train myself constantly because hardware and software are changing rapidly, which means always seeking excellence. It’s a constant challenge.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: What was your first biggest break?
My first professional experience was in motor sport, during the 24 hours of Le Mans auto. A wonderful memory.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: Let's talk about your early days, what helped you climb to where you are?
As I said earlier, there are certainly meetings and work opportunities that arise in the course of a career, there is of course education that one receives. I think what has helped me get to where I am today is, first of all, the support of the people around me, the confidence that the professionals I’ve worked with have had in me. I believe that challenging oneself, being curious, being open to the world around us can only bring a lot of positive experience. I have the chance to do a job that is also my passion I sincerely believe that these are the points that brought me to where I am today.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: How would you describe your style of shooting?
It is often said that a photographer’s style is the visual rendering of his photos in accordance with what he likes to read, listen, feel and see. Sometimes I am asked to remain academic in my work, but it is to respect a specification, but I am looking especially for what is out of the ordinary. I focus my work on different planes, I search for novelty, and in the field of fashion, I search for precision, I work with boxes like the Nikon D850, which has a very powerful sensor that allows me to play with light and depth of field and highlight the precision work of the creators on their dresses.
The static photo is good, but I love the action photos, often through a movement I find the photo that suits me, for example during the parades, I see through the movements of the models, like movements of the dancers of the opera, where I find in a situation, a scene that I have already seen on a painting, or a sculpture. I think that old art as well as new art influence my work.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: How did your style evolved since you start shooting?
Over the course of my career, I have of course been receptive to many influences, and I think that my interest in everything related to the artistic field, painting, sculpture, music and dance have found a positive response in my work. Today, I see in my photos everything I’ve been able to discover during these 25 years of jobs, and I know very well that the lines will still move in the coming years, and that’s what attracts me a lot.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: Do you have any photography mentors?
Of course, my photography mentors are Robert Doisneau, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Peter Lindbergh and William Klein.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: Let's talk about gear, what do you currently shoot with and what type of job your gear applies to?
I have two types of materials, they each have their function: The first for sport and fashion a Canon 1D mark III with a 20-70 lens and a 300-800 sigma lens which I am very satisfied with.
The rest is Nikon for everything else, sports and fashion too, I love Nikon. The D850 D5 and soon a D6 with a 14-24 2.8 ED, a 70-200 2.8 and a 50-500 Sigma that I like so much.
I kept a D3x that still fulfills its job very well and a big lens 200-500 Sigma.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: Besides body and lens what are your other essentials in your bag?
A water bottle, small tools, a compressed air bomb with the usual cleaning cloths, sometimes my laptop.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: What is your favorite lens and why? This is always surprising, but I love the Sigma 50-500, it has an extraordinary dive and it is very bright. It allows at the same time to make photos of meadow, from far and to be near remaining far. World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: What's more important, skill or gear and why?
We can have the best equipment possible, if we don’t have the skill, we’ll never get anything good!
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: Let's talk about post processing, what is your process?Usually, I load my photos into my computer, I see if the white balance is ok, if eventually I need to crop some. Eventually, I use Lightroom or Photoshop if necessary, but the least possible is better.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: What makes you unique as a photographer?
My own way of approaching people, my attitude in general, my outfit, and my way of working that is unlike any other in my colleagues. I always make sure that I always have very good relationships in the business and with people, relationships, communication, that’s important. On the other hand, I think that I did not let myself be locked into a specific genre, I love variety and novelty. World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: What advice would you give to next generation of photographers on getting where you are? What I will advise future generations of photographers is to be curious, patient, opinionated, observant, to keep an eye constantly sharp and not be afraid to adapt and not be afraid of difficulty because it is the best training school and also and know how to remain discreet. secret is a best value. If you want to become a leader you need to maintain your skills.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: What celebrities have you worked with so far?
Most of the time it is at the Cannes Film Festival or in Deauville, celebrities from the world of music or cinema, especially Americans with whom I have my most beautiful memories.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: Any fashion experience?
Yes of course, I cover the Paris Fashion Week Haute Couture and the ready-to-wear and that of New York also when my schedule allows it!
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: What some of your achievements as a photographer that you are proud of ?
- A catalogue for a jeweller in 2016
- Photographic collaboration with two designer as house photographer, abroad
- A communication campaign for a city near Versailles, with the publication of a book of my photos .
- 20 years of reporting on American veterans returning to Normandy 1997-2017
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: What is your best quality as a photographer?
I'm patient.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: What is your favorite pageant you shot so far and why, tell us a story? My favorite pageant is that of holiday on ice, I was able to cover it thanks to a friend who was the lead singer. Anyway, I never had the opportunity to photograph a beauty pageant.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: Any amazing photography stories you would like to share with us?
I was accredited by The White House Press Pool, it was the 70th anniversary of the landing in Normandy, at the American cemetery in Omaha Beach. The President of the United States Barack Obama, sat to the left of French President François Hollande. I was placed in the same gallery as the White House delegation, a bit shifted to its left, and, with the other photographers, we could not get his eyes. I made the decision to put my flash on my box and program it in strobe mode, to get his attention. After five minutes they turned to us and gave us a light smile. I got my picture right , and my colleagues thanked me.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: Most amazing places you shot at?
The places are very varied, I was able to take pictures on an aircraft carrier, aboard a helicopter, aboard an off-shore racing boat. There are also very diverse places like taking pictures in a cave, or in the same week, at the top of a mountain. Doing underwater photography in front of a shark and ending up a few days later on a fashion week parade in Paris I sometimes wonder if it doesn’t take a little crazy to do this job, but it’s so exciting, you have to accept and love adventure because every day is very different. World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine: Tell us about some of the highs and lows of being a photographer for those who want to follow your footsteps.
As for the highs, we must mention the fact that we are independent, we can choose our style. It is a very rich profession in exchanges and meetings. The activities are varied and exciting. The lows, you have to sell and value your work constantly, the new technologies help us, the market is saturated especially by people who improvise photographers with their smartphones. And it is often difficult to get paid, this is very true in France.
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine? What can we expect from you next?
Always ready, That’s my favorite expression ! Always ready to go on an adventure, always ready to give the best of myself, always ready for new encounters, always ready for new challenges! Live the photo, but live it intensely!
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine? What kind of legacy would you like to leave behind?
In Heritage I would especially like my photographic work to be retained, because the photo is there to freeze for a moment in view of eternity, it is an indispensable visual memory. I would be fully satisfied if all this work could survive after me and be profitable to those who will come after me. World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine? If someone would like to hire you, how can they do that.
I can be contacted mainly through my facebook account or mainly my instagram account: jean.marc.cresson
World Class Paris Fashion Week Magazine would like to say thank you for this wonderful interview.
Interview by Derek Tokarzewski Owner/Editor in Chief Mr United Nations 2018 Platform: Women Empowerment Ambassador to International Foundation for Orphans iffocares.org
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